What temperature should I set the thermostat to?

For a heated home being left occupied-feeling, 55°F is the standard minimum — warm enough to prevent pipe freezing, cool enough to save significantly on heating bills. Below 55°F and you risk frozen pipes; above 65°F and you're heating an empty house. If the home has a basement or if plumbing runs through exterior walls, leaning toward 58-60°F is safer. Add a remote-monitoring thermostat if you can — alerts for power loss or temperature drop have saved many homes.

How do I prevent frozen pipes?

Three layers of defense. (1) Keep the house heated to at least 55°F. (2) Insulate exposed pipes in basements, garages, and exterior walls with foam sleeves. (3) For long absences (3+ months) in very cold climates, shut off the water main and drain the pipes fully — open all faucets, flush toilets until empty, pour non-toxic antifreeze into traps (toilet bowls, sink drains, floor drains). If you have irrigation, blow out the lines with compressed air before you leave.

What should I unplug?

Anything that generates heat or has standby power: TVs, computers, microwaves, coffee makers, stereo equipment, device chargers, space heaters, the TV box. Leave plugged in: refrigerator (unless you're leaving 4+ months — then clean and prop open), freezer (same rule), smoke/CO detectors, security system, thermostat, lamps on timers, a phone charger for anyone who stops by. Unplugging saves ~5% on your electric bill and reduces fire risk from surges.

How often should a house sitter visit?

Minimum every two weeks for a shorter absence; weekly for 3+ months; every 3-4 days for unheated properties or high-risk areas. Each visit should include a temperature check, a water-leak sweep (under sinks, near the water heater, laundry area), a look at the basement/crawlspace, and confirmation that mail isn't piling up. For longer absences, a monthly physical entry is non-negotiable — some insurance policies actually require it for claim validity.

Should I turn off the water?

For 2-4 weeks, probably not — the risk of frozen pipes is manageable with good thermostat settings. For 1-3 months, shut off the main valve and drain the lines if you're in a freezing climate. For 3+ months, absolutely — shut off the main, drain fully, pour antifreeze in traps. Also shut off the water heater (gas: to pilot; electric: at the breaker) when the water's off; running a dry element can damage it.

What's the best security setup for an empty home?

Layered. A monitored alarm system ($30-50/month) gives you a professional response path. A smart lock with unique codes for service and sitters beats a hidden key. Timer lights (even cheap LED plug-in timers) simulate presence. Cameras with cloud storage let you check in; models with two-way audio let you respond. Neighbor awareness is the highest-ROI single item — a neighbor who knows you're gone, has your contact info, and can walk over is worth more than any single device.

Snowbird Home-Leaving Checklist

Leaving your house for the winter

Half the country leaves home for a chunk of winter. Retirees head south for three months. Second-home owners lock up the cottage. Professionals take a sabbatical. Whatever shape it takes, the empty-home-for-months situation has a specific set of risks that people who've never done it before tend to underestimate — and which people who've done it once tend to over-prepare for.

This guide walks through what actually matters, what doesn't, and how to think about the decisions.

The real risks, ranked

People worry about burglary. Statistically, that's not the biggest risk to an empty house. In order:

Frozen pipes. A burst pipe from freezing costs on average $10,000 to repair. It happens because heating fails, the house cools, and water left in pipes expands and cracks them. It happens almost exclusively in homes where the owner trusted the heating system without a backup plan. Remote temperature monitoring — a $30 device that alerts your phone if the house drops below a threshold — prevents virtually all of these losses. This is the single highest-ROI item on your prep list.

Water leaks (not from freezing). A water heater that fails slowly, a washing machine hose that bursts, a roof that develops a slow leak after a storm. All undetected for months, all quietly rotting floors and walls. Water sensors under major appliances and near the water heater ($20 each) with a remote alarm close this gap.

HVAC failure. Related to but not the same as frozen pipes. Furnace shuts down, nobody notices, the house cools for weeks. Remote thermostats that alert you on loss of heat (or loss of power) are almost universal now.

Pests. Mice in basements, squirrels in attics, carpenter ants in the wood frame. Long absences amplify small problems. An annual exterminator service is cheap insurance; so is sealing exterior entry points before leaving.

Burglary. Real but lower in frequency than the above. A house that looks lived-in — lights on timers, mail collected, someone driving past occasionally — gets skipped by most opportunistic burglars.

Storm damage. Climate-dependent. Hurricane coast: major. Wildfire zone: major. Tornado alley: moderate. Blizzard region: moderate (roof snow load, downed trees). Know your zone and prep accordingly.

Heating and pipe strategy by duration

For 2 to 4 weeks, keep the house heated at 55°F and leave the water on. Insulate exterior-wall pipes with foam sleeves. Open cabinet doors under kitchen and bathroom sinks so warm air reaches the plumbing. This is enough.

For 1 to 3 months, keep heating at 55°F but also shut off the water main before leaving, draining the pipes (open all faucets, flush toilets, pour RV-safe antifreeze into floor drains and toilet bowls). You save on the water bill and eliminate flood risk.

For 3 to 6 months, treat the house as fully closed. Shut off water, fully drain, antifreeze in traps, drain water heater and shut it off, unplug appliances, empty refrigerator/freezer and prop doors open, shut off gas to anything non-essential.

For 6 months or more, same as 3-6 months but also: a local contact who physically enters monthly, a spring-service schedule (landscaping, roof inspection) queued to begin before you return, and your insurance carrier notified. Some policies become limited or void if a home is "vacant" (typically 30-60+ days) without explicit vacancy coverage.

Security basics

A layered approach works better than any single device.

Timer lights. Even a cheap $10 plug-in timer on a living-room lamp simulates presence. Set two or three on different schedules so the house doesn't look mechanical.

Mail collection. An overflowing mailbox is the most visible sign a house is empty. Use USPS hold (up to 30 days at a time, renewable) or forwarding (up to 12 months). A neighbor collecting is fine but only if reliable — "I forgot" is the default setting for most arrangements.

A monitored alarm system. $30–50/month for professional monitoring. The sign in the yard deters casual burglars; the monitoring catches the rare serious ones. Smart home systems (SimpliSafe, Ring Alarm, Vivint) are now comparable in quality to old wired systems at half the price.

Smart locks. Unique codes for service people (HVAC tech, exterminator, pool service) that you can deactivate remotely. Beats a hidden key or distributed copies.

Cameras. Doorbell cameras and a couple of interior cameras let you check in remotely. Two-way audio on doorbell cameras lets you respond to delivery drivers in real time, which looks exactly like you're home.

Neighbor awareness. The single highest-ROI security item. A neighbor who knows you're gone, has your contact info, knows your usual service providers' schedules, and can walk over is worth more than any device. Leave a physical key with them (not under a rock).

Pets

If pets are going with you, you're mostly done — packing, vet records, tags, a familiar blanket. Most airlines require a vet-issued health certificate within 10 days of travel for pets flying.

If pets stay behind with a sitter, the handoff is critical. Written instructions: feeding schedule, medication, preferred vet and after-hours emergency vet, nearest 24-hour animal hospital, your contact info, and what to do in specific scenarios (loss of appetite for 24 hours, limping, any of these call the vet). A test run — the sitter comes for a half-day while you're still home — surfaces problems before you leave.

Pets alone with an automatic feeder is workable for a few days, not weeks. For trips longer than three or four days, arrange in-person care. This is not optional.

The arrival-home routine

The day you come back, before you unload the car, walk the house with a checklist:

Thermostat on heating, temperature set
Water main back on, slow pressure-up (open faucets one at a time to release air and check for leaks)
Water heater back on (wait 15 minutes for the tank to fill before powering)
Refrigerator and freezer back on, allow 4 hours before restocking
Walk every room: look for water stains, smell for mustiness, check pet-entry points
Mail retrieved, alarm system reset
Appliances re-plugged
First sleep should be a night, not a nap — takes the house's full cycle of cold-and-warm to find any leaks

The first 48 hours at home are when most "we came home to find…" stories originate. Slow, deliberate re-entry prevents almost all of them.

What this tool does

Fill in the form above with your home type, climate risks, duration, heating system, and pet/mail/security setup. You'll get a full checklist split into pre-departure (one week out, day of), ongoing while you're away, emergency contact template for your house sitter, and a structured arrival-home routine.

Every item has a category (exterior, interior, utilities, security, pets, mail-bills) so you can print it and tick through room by room. It's tailored to your specific situation — a condo in Minneapolis gets different items than a farmhouse in Florida.

The best prep is done calmly, a week or two before you leave. Panic-prepping the morning of departure is how homes come back to surprises. Start early; this checklist is meant to be the thing on your kitchen counter for the last two weeks.

Snowbird home-leaving checklist

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